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How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

I think I made a discovery.

please let me know if anyone knew about this before

in order to avoid throwing away your paintbrush after the epoxy work or to avoid using expensive chemicals to clean it you can do a very simple, easy and fast way to stop the curing process.i made a short video that is posted on my youtube page illustrating the method:

the paintbrush in this video was kept one month in the freezer for testing and I used it already 3 times. it's soo cool!

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

Yes, that works but....If you don't wrap and/or encase it in several layers of plastic, the smell will permeate other stuff in the freezer. Some epoxies and solvents are worse than others but upsetting SWIMBO is not a good path.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

If i'm using epoxy several times per week, I use the lidded plastic tub that dishwasher pods come in with a couple of inches of acetone to store epoxy brushes between sessions.
Before re-using a brush, I shake the acetone out in the trash barrel. The lid retards evaporation. Eventially the acetone gets funky and it goes into my waste solvent jug.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

Yup, brushes, rollers unused portions of epoxy, 5200 all go in the "garage Freezer" No smells so far. The unused mixes are good for when you need just a touch of epoxy net or thickened. I usually have a yogurt cup of each in my freezer.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

Jim, when I'm doing a large project, that runs over several days or weeks with epoxied tools, I do exactly like you. Its the easiest and cleanest method. When using vinegar, I blow off the brush with the air compressor before its used again. Gets it cleaner than just shaking and not necessary to wash in soapy water.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

Originally Posted by David W Pratt

Guess I'm a profligate slob, I just throw the chip brushes away.
But, it would be nice if West System made a micro dispenser system to mix up teaspoon size batches

Here is how I solved that problem. I filled two small containers with hardener in one and resin in the other. From my local pharmacy I got two medicine dispensing syringes (free). No needles, just the syringes. In this way I can make very small doses of epoxy. Smaller than a teaspoon if needed. In time the syringes need to be replaced as they get grungy after a few dozen uses. No biggie.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

Don't put it on a freezer in which you store food. It will even penetrate hot dogs and guess what THEY smell like when you cook them on the grill.... What would you expect when you leave the epoxy/carbon fiber storage freezer unlocked in the same workroom a bunch of Mechanical Engineers share.

The good news is it won't penetrate the glass in bottled beer in the fridge!

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

When I finish an epoxy job, I just dip my paintbrush into a cup with acetone, and leave it there... I once had one in for a week or so, and it was just as soft when I took it out. Of course, if you want to keep it for a while, best to cover the cup, so the acetone won't evaporate too fast. I re-use the same acetone for at least 10 jobs, depending on the size of the brush.

Anything wrong with this method? I'm surprised no one mentioned it so far.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

Originally Posted by David W Pratt

Guess I'm a profligate slob, I just throw the chip brushes away.
But, it would be nice if West System made a micro dispenser system to mix up teaspoon size batches

I asked my vetinarian to save some of the syringes they use for oral meds. Cleaned up and capped I keep one with resin and one with hardener. They're calibrated nicely, so it's easy to mix up tiny batches.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

Professional use a 10 litre paint bucket with a lid with a few litres of acetone in it, at the end of the day all epoxy tools get chucked in there. Everything is clean the next day, spatulas, spreaders, trowels, brushes... Generally I avoid putting epoxy and food together, too much contamination risk but a separate freezer would be ok.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

Originally Posted by Hugh MacD

I asked my vetinarian to save some of the syringes they use for oral meds. Cleaned up and capped I keep one with resin and one with hardener. They're calibrated nicely, so it's easy to mix up tiny batches.

Get electronic gram scales, you can measure very accurately and avoid messy syringes.

Re: How to re-use your epoxy paintbrush

THANK YOU! Thank you! Thank you!

For making this thread. I have used a lot of epoxy and poly over the years. I know poly is different than poxy. I've mostly done repair jobs which means the brushes may go years without being used. I usually toss them. I'm planning some projects that will require gallons of epoxy over months to be applied. Now I can save some money and reuse brushes and such. So thankful to have a different approach to handling disposables or what I once considered one-use disposables.